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WELLNESS
La Leche League New Zealand Leader Katie Fourie with two of her children at a Big Latch On event in Cambridge. Photo/Supplied
Breastfeeding support enables choice
W
orld Breastfeed Week is being held from August 1-7. It was started in 1992 to generate public awareness and support for breastfeeding. La Leche League National Board Member Lorraine Taylor speaks to writer Ruby Harfield about what support is available for people on their breastfeeding journey in New Zealand. Tell me about La Leche League La Leche League New Zealand (LLLNZ) is our local version of an international organisation run by volunteers. Our volunteers are women and parents who have gone through their own breastfeeding experience and then achieve an accreditation to represent the organisation and offer breastfeeding support and information in their communities. The support is in the form of facilitated group meetings to talk about and learn about breastfeeding and the early days with a new baby and beyond. What is La Leche League doing for World Breastfeeding Week?
Every year, many groups hold a special celebration or promotional event for World Breastfeeding Week whether that’s a morning tea with whānau, or invited guests, or workshops for breastfeeding supporters and health care workers. In recent years, LLLNZ has also collaborated with the Women’s
Health Action and participated in the world wide Big Latch On where everyone present attempts to feed their children at the same time. It is fun, happily chaotic, public and a celebration of all breast and infant feeding journeys. This year’s Big Latch On has been postponed until April 2023 due to Covid.
Facebook groups, on email, zoom and in person meetings, by text, workshops and conferences. Going along to community groups is what many of us have found to be an incredible source for encouragement, support and information, for breastfeeding and raising our children.
What support is available for people on their breastfeeding journey?
Why is this important?
The best support for any new parent is quality informal support – family, friends and knowledgeable supporters who can encourage. Midwives, Plunket nurses and peer supporters also offer new parents essential information on a range of topics including breastfeeding. When a mother is having a challenge with breastfeeding or has specific questions about her own situation, she really needs accessible, available and timely assistance in the community - and it to be available sometimes at stressful times. This can be lactation consultants, breastfeeding supporters, breastfeeding support group, La Leche League and breastfeeding drop-in clinics, but this requires knowing where these services are, and being able to access them often with travel, money and emotional resilience. La Leche League in Aotearoa offers a friendly and knowledgeable person to chat at the end of a phone, in
It’s not always easy to breastfeed - as women we often feel it should come very naturally to us, and for some it does, but it is also a learned behavior. We learn how to breastfeed from other women and breastfeeding supporters. We need to see it and talk to others who have been there to learn how to feed a new baby. For some it comes easily, for others it takes time and assistance. It doesn’t always work out - and we need to talk it through, in those situations also. What are the benefits of breastfeeding? There are so many great things about breastfeeding - it’s a positive choice for mum, it’s definitely a positive option for the baby, and there are reasons why breastfeeding is good for the whole family, community and even the environment. We probably know more about why breastfeeding is awesome than we did only a few decades ago. But that is not the whole story. It’s not just about the reasons breast milk is good for baby and
A chat from a breastfeeding support with a mum and her baby. Photo/Supplied mother. We honour each and every mother’s right to make the decisions that are right for them and their family, including if they choose not to breastfeed in order to share that load with her partner. We trust a woman to make the decisions that are right for her. Community support for breastfeeding allows breastfeeding to be a true choice for a mother. If she can initiate and sustain breastfeeding she can choose whether to continue, and for how long that is right for her and her family. If she does not get the support she needs to initiate breastfeeding then that choice is taken away from her. Women don’t need to be convinced of the reasons to breastfeed - what they need is support, value and help – they need a community who believes in what they’re doing.
The statistics in New Zealand show that most women initiate breastfeeding - many women find breastfeeding to be a very immediate way of connecting with their new baby, with optimal nutrition. The baby gets all it needs in a warm cuddle - human milk that is exactly right for human babies. Both mum and baby get oxytocin surges, the ‘falling in love’ hormones. Caring for your child with or without breastfeeding is an incredible journey. Let’s help mums actually have the choice to breastfeed or not, in ways that suit them. That means enabling mums from the get go. Then each mother, baby and the family can experience the great things about breastfeeding - and make the decision that’s right for them.
